I'm looking to upgrade my HTPC. I originally built it to just run XBMC under Linux, but now I want to add some juice to run Dolphin as well.

Specs:

M4A785TD-M EVO

AMD Athlon X2 250
Ati Sapphire HD6450 1GB DDR3
4GB RAM
Intel SSD

I think the CPU is bottlenecking the system pretty hard when it comes to emulation, right? The motherboard seems fine, it supports up to 140W CPU's. So I think I should look for a faster AM3 socket CPU. I'm thinking Phenom X2? Does Dolphin benefit from quadcores?
And ... the graphics card, what can I expect from it? Does it need an upgrade as well?

It would be cool to run 2x native, that's the goal I guess. Would love your input on this.

I think the 6450 will do at least 2x native, the problem is actually your CPU choices. If you get the Phenom X4 955 and overclock it steeply you'll probably get enough power to run most games at fullspeed. What games specifically do you wish to play? Some may be out of reach for this setup. Replacing your board and CPU may give you a lot more juice.

(09-25-2013, 01:35 AM)rokclimb15 Wrote: I think the 6450 will do at least 2x native, the problem is actually your CPU choices. If you get the Phenom X4 955 and overclock it steeply you'll probably get enough power to run most games at fullspeed. What games specifically do you wish to play? Some may be out of reach for this setup. Replacing your board and CPU may give you a lot more juice.

Yeah the CPU is the big problem here. I was hoping to only upgrade the CPU, and leave the rest as it is. But ... I don't know about the graphics card. With real complex games, I guess I would be satisfied with 1,5x native. Mainly looking to play Skyward Sword, Mario Kart Wii, Twilight Princess, Brawl, and Xenoblades. Why upgrade the board btw?

Upgrade the board would be necessary to support an Intel CPU (I was suggesting a full mobo + proc swap). To achieve fullspeed in LoZ: SS and Xenoblade will probably require more horsepower than a stock system can deliver, even an Intel rig. The best you can hope for is either to OC your setup (and possibly replace with an Intel proc) or to accept that you won't be able to run SS fullspeed.

I originally wanted to make an HTPC that would do this as well, but the numbers just don't add up. If you OC, you've got cooling problems unless you use water. If you don't OC, you can't run the most demanding games fullspeed in latest revisions.

Why an Intel CPU? A good AMD Phenom II seems to be sufficient for x2 native, and this option would be more cost efficient than replacing the whole mobo+CPU. But I don't know which CPU to pick from. Does quadcore make a difference, or should I go for a fast dualcore?